%1

The lawyer who represented Teresa and Joe Giudice's creditors wants to reopen the bankruptcy proceeding in case Teresa wins her pending legal malpractice lawsuit against her bankruptcy attorney James Kridel of Clifton, NJ.com reported yesterday. That way, her creditors could get a cut of any "meaningful" dividends, John Sywilok of Hackensack argues in a new motion filed in bankruptcy court. The "Real Housewives of New Jersey" stars, who live in Montville Township, filed for bankruptcy in 2010. But bankruptcy trustee Sywilok alleged that they left out a number of assets and sources of income in their initial papers, including her reality show salary, rental income from her Lincoln Park property (since foreclosed upon) and a Maserati, and eventually the couple agreed to abandon their bankruptcy discharge. Federal prosecutors later won on charges that the couple committed bankruptcy fraud as well as conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. When Sywilok formally closed out the bankruptcy case in 2014, he said the couple only satisfied $7,500 of their debts and still owed $13.4 million to their creditors. Last year, Teresa filed the malpractice suit against Kridel, alleging that he made mistakes in their bankruptcy filing and tried to cover them up, which led to the federal prosecution. Read more. 

Don’t miss the “Practicing in the Limelight: The Challenges Faced in Cases Involving High-Profile Debtors” session at ABI’s 11th Annual Northeast Consumer Forum July 14-16!

Total U.S. commercial bankruptcy filings increased 32 percent in April 2016 over April of last year, according to data provided by Epiq Systems, Inc. Commercial filings totaled 3,482 in April 2016, up from the April 2015 total of 2,641. April is the sixth consecutive month with a year-over-year increase in commercial filings. Total commercial chapter 11 filings also climbed in April 2016, as the 680 filings were 67 percent more than the 408 commercial chapter 11 filings registered in April 2015. However, total bankruptcy filings decreased 10 percent to 70,457 in April 2016, down from the April 2015 total of 77,949. Consumer filings were 66,975, dropping 11 percent from the April 2015 consumer filing total of 75,308.